"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
2 Corinthians 5:17
The semester is finally over! Final grades are posted, and I am back at home relaxing with the family and back working at the YMCA. Before I get started, I just want to apologize for any grammatical errors; it is 5:00 in the morning, and I am working at the Y while running on 3 hours of sleep.
After having a pretty terrible year last year, I decided I wanted to start my college experience over. I am already graduating a whole year later than expected, so why not have a whole other freshman year? Going into this coming year, I felt like I was a freshman again. I did not know my roommate. I did not know who my support group was going to be. I was trying out a different campus ministry and church. I was completely starting over. I came into the year as a different person, renewed in Christ. I had a different mindset going into school, and my goal was to reach out to the other students on App's campus. I was extremely nervous about going back to App, but after my 3rd semester of freshman year has come to an end, I could not have asked for a better semester.
At the beginning of the year I spent a lot of time in my room. I did not really have a support group, and my whole group of friends from the year before changed. I'm not going to lie, the first couple weeks of school was pretty rough. I had this whole gameplan and mindset for the new year, but as soon as I got back to school, it was like it completely left me. After the first couple of weeks, God reminded me that he had everything under control and reminded me of what my goal was for the year. I spent every night praying that God would provide the solid group of friends and opportunities to spread his word. God immediately began to answer those prayers.
I have met so many wonderful people this year. I decided after prayer and talking to the campus minister that I would stay at BCM. I am part of the prayer team, and even though our meetings were on Thursday mornings at 8, I loved waking up early and meeting with those people. Though I hated my Thursday classes, Thursdays seemed to be the best day of the week. The prayer team is led by Jordan, who has been such a blessing to me this semester. The team consist of me, Jordan, Marge, Joseph, Kelsey, and Stephanie. It has been so great getting to know the members of my team and hanging out with them. They always seem to keep me laughing and smiling. They definitely make 8:00 more enjoyable for me. We went throug the book of Colossians, which is probably one of my favorite books in the New Testament, and we finished up the semester in James. I have loved being on the prayer team this past semester, and God has provided me with some amazing people.
It was not till halfway through the semester that I met the people on the 5th floor of my dorm (I live on the 7th). My friend Asheigh from BCM lives on the 5th floor, so I went down there one day to talk to her, and I ended up meeting all of her hilarious friends. I spend mroe time now on their floor than I do mine. They have been so much fun to hang out with and get to know. I love them to death, even though I was trying to taker a nap and they wrapped a whole roll of toilet paper on me.
God has provided me such an amazing support group; I praise Him everyday for providing me with my main group of friends. At first, I was expecting God to just put someone in my life and magically become best friends with them, but it was not that easy. Getting into the semester, I realized that I have to be intentional with people if I really want to get to know them and reach out to them. I started out with getting to know some of the freshman in BCM. I felt like such a creeper, but I invited a couple of the freshman guys to lunch. I am sure I creeped them out with some random guy just asking them to hang out. I got lunch with Caleb first, and apparently the first impression I made on him was not the best. When I walk, I am in the zone. I have my mindset on where I am going, and completely block out everything else. With this said, I was in the cafeteria waiting on Caleb to get there when I saw one of my other friends. I went to go talk to her, and apparently Caleb had came up to me and said hey, but I did not see him and completely ignored him. It was not till a couple days later that someone told me what had happened. Not the best way to start out a friendship, but luckily Caleb has not held that against me, and I can say that now he is one of my best friends at school. We are planning on rooming together next year, and I cannot wait! After getting luch with Caleb, I got lunch with Taylor and Will. They are pretty awesome! Kept me laughing the whole time. Hanging out with them has been great. Will always crackin' your mom jokes and Taylor just being hilarious. I blame both of them for my addiction to LOST. They also brought Sly Cooper! Don't know what that is you are missing out. BEST GAME EVER! Through Taylor and Will, I met Dusty, Beth, Ali, Maggie, Alex, and Madison. These people are AWESOME!!! I love hanging out with them. They always have me smiling, joking, and laughing. God has blessed me with this group of friends, and I praise Him everyday for putting them in my life. I am excited about next semester playing 4v4 volleyball with Maggie, Ali, and Will. Needless to say we will dominate. Speaking of volleyball, my team won the championship this past semester for the 3A league. I am excited to be home for Christmas, but I don't see how I am going to last a month without seeing these people. We are all taking snowboarding together next semester, and words cannot even describe how excited I am about this!!!
There are several other people that I love to death! Hunter has been such an awesome friend this semester as well. I stayed the other night at his cabin (which is extremely nice), and it was one of the best days I have ever had! My "hookup" partner for BCM, Matt Gillis, has been such a blessing to me too. It has been great getting to know him and talk to him. I got lunch most every Tuesday and Thursday with him and some of his friends, and it was great talking to them and joking around. They made me feel a part of the group the day I met them. Marge is also one of my best friends. Whenever I need a venting session, Marge is always there for me. I have loved hanging out and talking to her. She has been one of the hugest blessings at my time at App. She has been there for me every step of the way this year, and I am so blessed to have a best friend like her!
This semester has been awesome. I could not have asked for a better semester, classes, or friends. This year already tops last year by far. This freshman year has been everything I imagined plus more! I cannot wait for this next semester to get back to school and see what all God has in store for me. As for now, its good to be home with the family, and just spending some time relaxing!
5th Floor Doughton: Gotta Love Them!
Zumba!
